Indirect Optical Analysis of a Dynamic Chemical System

Hide and seek : The composition of a dynamic covalent equilibrium reaction is determined by measuring the ‘left‐over’ concentration of a reference compound (blue object, see picture). Reaction of the reference compound with a scavenger generates a characteristic UV/Vis signal that is independent of the molecular structure of the target.

     

A Metaheuristic to Solve a Location-Routing Problem with Non-Linear Costs

The paper deals with a location-routing problem with non-linear cost functions. To the best of our knowledge, a mixed integer linear programming formulation for the addressed problem is proposed here for the first time. Since the problem is NP-hard exact algorithms are able to solve only particular cases, thus to solve more general versions heuristics are needed. The algorithm proposed in this paper is a combination of a p-median approach to find an initial feasible solution and a metaheuristic to improve the solution. It is a hybrid metaheuristic merging Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) and Tabu Search (TS) principles and exploiting the synergies between the two. Computational results and conclusions close the paper.     

Detecting authorized and unauthorized genetically modified organisms containing vip3A by real-time PCR and next-generation sequencing

The growing number of biotech crops with novel genetic elements increasingly complicates the detection of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food and feed samples using conventional screening methods. Unauthorized GMOs (UGMOs) in food and feed are currently identified through combining GMO element screening with sequencing the DNA flanking these elements. In this study, a specific and sensitive qPCR assay was developed for vip3A element detection based on the vip3Aa20 coding sequences of the recently marketed MIR162 maize and COT102 cotton. Furthermore, SiteFinding-PCR in combination with Sanger, Illumina or Pacific BioSciences (PacBio) sequencing was performed targeting the flanking DNA of the vip3Aa20 element in MIR162. De novo assembly and Basic Local Alignment Search Tool searches were used to mimic UGMO identification. PacBio data resulted in relatively long contigs in the upstream (1,326 nucleotides (nt); 95 % identity) and downstream (1,135 nt; 92 % identity) regions, whereas Illumina data resulted in two smaller contigs of 858 and 1,038 nt with higher sequence identity (>99 % identity). Both approaches outperformed Sanger sequencing, underlining the potential for next-generation sequencing in UGMO identification.

Assessment of the morphology of mixed SAMs on Au nanoparticles using a fluorescent probe

The distribution of thiols in mixed SAMs can be determined in a straightforward manner from spectrophotometric titrations using a fluorescent probe. A plot of saturation concentration as a function of mole fraction provides information on the number of headgroups involved in binding.     

Synthesis of 4,6‐Dimethyldibenzothiophene and 1,2,3,4‐Tetrahydro‐4,6‐dimethyldibenzothiophene via Tilak Annulation

1,2,3,4‐Tetrahydro‐4,6‐dimethyldibenzothiophene was prepared by coupling 2‐bromo‐3‐methylcyclohexanone with 2‐methylbenzenethiol and annulating the product with the aid of polyphosphoric acid. A mixture of 1,2,3,4‐tetrahydro‐4,6‐dimethyldibenzothiophene and 4,6‐dimethyldibenzothiophene was prepared by coupling 2‐bromo‐3‐methylcyclohex‐2‐en‐1‐one with 2‐methylbenzenethiol and annulating the product with the aid of polyphosphoric acid. 2‐Bromo‐3‐methylcyclohexanone was synthesized by conjugate addition of Me₃Al to 2‐bromocyclohex‐2‐en‐1‐one with CuBr as catalyst and 2‐bromo‐3‐methylcyclohex‐2‐en‐1‐one by bromination? elimination of 3‐methylcyclohex‐2‐en‐1‐one. 1,2,3,4,4a,9b‐Hexahydro‐4,6‐dimethyldibenzothiophene was prepared by reduction of 1,2,3,4‐tetrahydro‐4,6‐dimethyldibenzothiophene with Zn and CF₃COOH.